The maligned mask

Governor drops mandate amid lawmakers’ moves

Arkansas’ statewide mask mandate expires today, although the public health emergency Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared some months ago continues — as does the coronavirus that triggered it.

While the state mandate will be gone, mask wearing should not be.

The governor’s decision to let the mask mandate end does follow a reduction in the number of hospitalizations and reduced positivity rates from covid-19 testing.

But it also comes as lawmakers threatened to take away even more of the governor’s power to manage an emergency.

Witness the Legislature’s passage of a bill that would have required the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and the state Department of Health to return fines paid by businesses for coronavirus-related violations during the state’s public health emergency.

The governor vetoed the bill, calling it “an unwise and unconstitutional precedent for the future.” The Senate voted to override his veto. But the House attempt to override fell a dozen votes short of the simple majority vote required.

Mind you, the fines in question had been imposed because specific businesses didn’t comply with a rule, order or directive (such as the mask mandate) intended to mitigate or prevent the spread of the virus.

In his veto message, Hutchinson said the proposed law infringed on the executive branch’s power to enforce the law.

He was right and ultimately able to persuade enough House members to respect the separation of legislative and executive powers.

Nevertheless, the pressure may have hurried his decision to end the mandate.

Notably, Hutchinson imposed the controversial mask mandate back in July, after several major retailers announced mask requirements that would apply to anyone working or shopping in their stores.

The state mandate was among many amendments he made to the emergency declaration he issued at the outset of the pandemic in Arkansas, not all of which were well received by everyone affected.

The virus was rapidly spreading, sickening and killing ever-increasing numbers of Arkansans and already straining the state’s hospital capacity by the time he ordered the mask mandate.

“We need to do more,” Hutchinson had said, suggesting at the time that the retailers’ action to require face coverings may have signaled that masking had become more acceptable to the public.The governor has always looked for what Arkansans would tolerate although he generally followed recommendations from state and national health authorities in setting policy.

The truth is that masks were thoroughly rebuffed by some Arkansans but embraced by others.

Businesses, often offering masks to customers who enter without them, actually did more to bring about compliance than did law enforcement agencies. But businesses liked having the state order in place to back them up.

Walmart, for one, intends to continue the policy. So do other businesses, some large, some small. But the government mandate will be gone. Hutchinson has said that businesses and, most likely, schools will be able to have their own masking requirements. Still up in the air is whether cities may impose a mask mandate in the absence of a state policy, although some say they will.

Fortunately, a lot of people won’t need a mandate to choose to wear masks in many public or private settings.

It’s one of the common-sense steps, along with hand-washing and social distancing, that still can protect against spread of the virus.

So, too, is vaccination, which is increasingly available to those who want to get the shots.

The vaccine is more available than it has been and the categories of persons eligible for the shots have expanded considerably.

In Arkansas, the shots will now be available to the general public, aged 16 and up.

The immediate challenge is to address the hesitancy some have shown toward vaccination, especially among those who are more vulnerable to severe illness or death from the virus.

The same lowering of covid-19 case numbers that allowed the mask mandate to be lifted makes some people less motivated to get the shots, the governor said last week.

“When it’s your turn, get a shot,” he advised. “Get that shot in your arm because it helps our entire state to completely move out of this pandemic.”

Public health researchers with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences warned last week of an uptick in the spread of the virus in Arkansas.

“If this virus has taught us anything, it is that letting our guard down has consequences,” the researchers wrote. They emphasized the need to vaccinate as many people as possible, especially those between 16 and 38, once the virus is under control among older adults.

“Leaving younger Arkansans unvaccinated runs the risk of leaving a continuing reservoir of covid-19, especially variants, and reigniting the pandemic among older unvaccinated age groups,” they reported.

No one wants that outcome.

Get the vaccine. And, for a while longer, wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance.